Jon Fratelli Inactive

Jon released some snippets of new music on MySpace and YouTube to promote his new solo career. These songs included “Bonnie & Clyde”, “Dead Street Affair”, “Rhythm and Blues Prostitute” which have not been heard since the previews. Jon played some solo shows before heading to Los Angeles in late 2010 to record his debut solo album, Psycho Jukebox with Tony Hoffer, who produced the first Fratellis’ album. The title is a reference to the Fratellis’ song “Nina”, which is featured on the “Whistle for the Choir” single.

During February 2011, Jon released a free track via his website called “Rhythm Doesn’t Make You a Dancer” which was to be on the album, and also gave away a free EP called The Magic Hour EP. Jon stated that these songs couldn’t fit on the album but he “still had a lot of time for them”. The first single from the album was “Santo Domingo” which was released on 28 February 2011.

The second single, “Baby We’re Refugees!”, was released on 12 June 2011, a song he had written after the album was completed and he had flown back to LA especially to record it. He would eventually try and add another new song called “Dead Radio” to the album but was told he couldn’t due to the label’s schedule.

Jon toured Psycho Jukebox across the UK, playing smaller venues than he was used to with the Fratellis. Live sets incorporated a 50/50 split with songs from his solo album incorporating half the set with songs from the Fratellis and Codeine Velvet Club taking up the other half of the set. He eventually added a rousing rendition of Dion’s “Runaround Sue” to end his set, a tradition that is still going on with the Fratellis to the present day.

Pictures were posted onto Jon’s Facebook page, showing him in the studio with his band. It was presumed that this was work for a second solo album, which was later confirmed in a Facebook post asking fans to record sounds of their city to add to the newly revealed Bright Night Flowers album.

A small sampler was uploaded to Jon’s SoundCloud, revealing “Dead Radio” was poised for inclusion on this album. News was promised but before it was ever revealed, the Fratellis reunion was announced and the album was put on the shelf, with Jon releasing the title track on his website and the previously released “Crazy Lovers Song”. Nothing would be heard about the album for a number of years while Jon focused on the Fratellis.

Occasionally Jon was asked about the album while the Fratellis were back on the road and promoting their albums. He would go on to say it was his favourite album he’d ever recorded but had no desire to share it with anybody else right now, commenting he enjoyed how “perverse” it was to not release it.

Eventually in March 2018, after recording In Your Own Sweet Time, Jon revealed he’d re-recorded Bright Night Flowers and was now thinking about finally releasing it to the world. He would state: “Yeah, I did that over the summer. It still needs to be mixed, and then I guess at some point, if somebody wants to release it, it’ll find its way out there.”

During October 2018, Jon’s social media accounts were reactivated and Bright Night Flowers was finally given a release date of February 2019. Two solo shows were also announced, marking his first shows as a solo artist in 8 years. He would play with a band backed with Will Foster on keyboards, Lewis Gordon on bass and Stuart McCredie on drums. The shows featured 8 of the 9 songs on Bright Night Flowers, two rearranged Fratellis songs “Whistle for the Choir” and “Laughing Gas”, and some covers that Jon had never played before. After these shows, Jon returned to the Fratellis as they flew to LA to record their sixth album.